Types of INTERPOL Notices

An INTERPOL notice or International Notice is issued by INTERPOL to share critical crime-related information between its member countries. There are eight types, seven of which are known by their colour codes. Based on requests from National Central Bureaus (NCBs), the General Secretariat produces notices in all of the organization’s official languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

Besides these notices are used by the International Criminal Tribunals and the International Criminal Court to seek persons wanted for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

The eight types of notices and their objectives are:

Red Notice

To seek the arrest or provisional arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition.

Yellow Notice

To help locate missing persons, often minors, or to help identify persons who are unable to identify themselves.

Blue Notice

To collect additional information about a person’s identity or activities in relation to a crime.

Black Notice

To seek information on unidentified bodies.

Green Notice

To provide warnings and criminal intelligence about persons who have committed criminal offences and are likely to repeat these crimes in other countries.

Orange Notice

To warn police, public entities and other international organizations about potential threats from disguised weapons, parcel bombs and other dangerous materials.

Purple Notice

To seek or provide information on modus operandi, objects, devices and concealment methods used by criminals.

INTERPOL-United Nations Security Council Special Notice

Issued for groups and individuals who are the targets of UN Security Council Sanctions Committees.

In November 2015, INTERPOL has introduced a new system of international alert called ‘Silver Notice’ on a pilot basis to assist its 190 member countries to identify, monitor, freeze and confiscate illicit assets acquired by criminals globally. This is expected to promote international cooperation on speed recovery of illicit assets located in foreign jurisdiction.